“Norman would have loved it,” said Hollywood director and screenwriter James Toback of the Norman Mailer Center’s sixth annual Benefit Gala at the New York Public Library on Monday.

Toback brought the house down with anecdotes about himself and “The Naked and the Dead” novelist, and author Don DeLillo, while accepting his lifetime achievement award, added of Mailer, who died in 2007, “This is Mailer tonight — at the library, where the books are.”

Mailer’s close friend Lawrence Schiller, who co-founded the Mailer Center, revealed that he-man Mailer had a softer side.

He recalled that Mailer would regularly receive thousands of letters from writers seeking advice, and took time to respond to each with a personal note and insightful response, whatever the question was.

“In the tradition of Norman helping, that is why we’re here, and what we do,” Schiller said of the Mailer Center.

Other honorees included Katrina vanden Heuvel and former poet laureate Billy Collins.